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>45.50. System Views</A
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><P
>   In addition to the system catalogs, <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
>
   provides a number of built-in views.  Some system views provide convenient
   access to some commonly used queries on the system catalogs.  Other views
   provide access to internal server state.
  </P
><P
>   The information schema (<A
HREF="information-schema.html"
>Chapter 34</A
>) provides
   an alternative set of views which overlap the functionality of the system
   views.  Since the information schema is SQL-standard whereas the views
   described here are <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
>-specific,
   it's usually better to use the information schema if it provides all
   the information you need.
  </P
><P
>   <A
HREF="views-overview.html#VIEW-TABLE"
>Table 45-51</A
> lists the system views described here.
   More detailed documentation of each view follows below.
   There are some additional views that provide access to the results of
   the statistics collector; they are described in <A
HREF="monitoring-stats.html#MONITORING-STATS-VIEWS-TABLE"
>Table 27-1</A
>.
  </P
><P
>   Except where noted, all the views described here are read-only.
  </P
><DIV
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><P
><B
>Table 45-51. System Views</B
></P
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>View Name</TH
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>Purpose</TH
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><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-available-extensions.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_available_extensions</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>available extensions</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-available-extension-versions.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_available_extension_versions</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>available versions of extensions</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-cursors.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_cursors</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>open cursors</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-group.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_group</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>groups of database users</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-indexes.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_indexes</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>indexes</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-locks.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_locks</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>currently held locks</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-prepared-statements.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_prepared_statements</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>prepared statements</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-prepared-xacts.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_prepared_xacts</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>prepared transactions</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-roles.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_roles</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>database roles</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-rules.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_rules</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>rules</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-seclabels.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_seclabels</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>security labels</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-settings.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_settings</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>parameter settings</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-shadow.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_shadow</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>database users</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-stats.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_stats</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>planner statistics</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-tables.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_tables</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>tables</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-timezone-abbrevs.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_timezone_abbrevs</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>time zone abbreviations</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-timezone-names.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_timezone_names</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>time zone names</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-user.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_user</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>database users</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-user-mappings.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_user_mappings</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>user mappings</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><A
HREF="view-pg-views.html"
><TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_views</TT
></A
></TD
><TD
>views</TD
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